Another kind review of Western Lights has popped up, this time by Buddhist Book Reviews. Here’s a little bit about Buddhist Book Reviews – They exists for one reason and one reason only – to help you discover some of the best and most useful Buddhist books currently available. All of the Buddhist books reviewed are considered exceptional for reasons that are given in the reviews themselves, and we have no hesitation in recommending them to you wholeheartedly. Buddhist Book Reviews Piece on Western Lights Western Lights is, as the subtitle states,…read more

Metta/Loving Kindness At the conclusion of every Sangha meeting, we end with the Five Limitless Thoughts prayer. I encourage everyone to learn it, memorize it, and with a sincere heart pray for it’s enactment. Remember the Buddha’s path is an inward path. The fulfillment of this prayer can only begin with your own happiness, contentment, and peace. Five Limitless Thoughts May all living beings have happiness and its causes May all be free from unhappiness and its causes May all dwell in equanimity, free of attraction and aversion May all…read more

Sharon Salzberg’s Review of Western Lights: Western Lights has its basis in Pure Land Buddhism, but the author draws on many other traditions, from Christianity to Tibetan Buddhism, to modern science, to help elucidate the ideas and thoughts he seeks to share. Andrew Furst openly discusses many of the thorny questions that spark heated debates between people of differing views. Furst approaches the big questions — “Is there a God?”, “What happens when we die?”, “What about reincarnation?” — with an eye toward cultivating honest harmony in the midst of…read more

This particular teaching has been a staple in my Sangha for a long time. I thought it deserved some special attention again. There are many ways to interpret the mantra Namo Amitofo so that it is useful to our cultivation, no matter our thought-state, emotional- state, or our circumstances. • From deep within my heart I pray that, at the moment of my death, I may enter Buddha Amitabha’s beautiful and perfect land of bliss • I bow before, worship, the endless life of the universe, supreme being • I trust…read more

I found and thought I’d share this information from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village about his birthday celebration and how you can participate: We know that the teacher is in the student and the student is in the teacher. We inter-are. Thay continues in all of us and we continue in him. Our greatest gift to Thay is the recognition that we are a part of his continuation. In celebration of Thay’s 88th year, we would like to offer him a gift. Here is what Thay has said is the…read more